Neiman Marcus to explore travel market
Neiman Marcus’ newly launched campaign, dubbed ‘The Art of Travel’, is the retailer’s attempt at reaching out to travel customers. The campaign kicks off a line of travel-themed exclusive items from handbags to fine apparel to beauty. ‘The Art of Travel’ collection boasts over 500 product exclusives across all merchants divisions, which will be offered from March until May.
“Through the Art of Travel, we are bringing the spirit of travel and the magic of fashion together for our customers in an innovative and experiential way,” said Theresa Palermo, Senior Vice President of Brand Marketing & Public Relations at Neiman Marcus Group. “We are inspiring our shoppers and engaging them at every touch point, both in stores and online. The Art of Travel will be an immersive experience for our customers, offering them insider travel tips from notable fashion designers, engaging in-store events with brand partners, and an impressive collection of exclusive products”.
For the campaign, the luxury retailer partnered with the Tourism Authority of Thailand, Tourism Ireland, MSC Cruises and Audley Travel to travel around the world, capturing original content by notable photographers, including the likes of John Balson, Billy Kidd, Agata Pospieszynska, Greg Lotus and Phil Poynter.
Ed Burstell, Senior Vice President, Production Innovation at Neiman Marcus, described his experience with travel and how it has complemented his sense of fashion.”Travel is such a magical and personal experience. My style has evolved dramatically over the years through experiencing different cultures and destinations. I’m excited to see how this collection of fantastic pieces we’ve curated will complement our customers’ wardrobes in different ways.”
Neiman Marcus’ new campaign is reflective of the current trend for retailers to target the travel and leisure. As a luxury brand, the retailer would be eyeing customers who seek the luxury element associated with travel. Travel is also very “shareable” activity, which the retailer will be able to take full advantage of. Brands like Away and Nordstrom have already tapped into the travel market and have benefitted from a young, digitally savvy and instagram-obsessed crowd. Travel is one of the most easily-instagrammable activities that gets a lot of attention from the masses. So, promoting travel products can be as easy as customers and influencers posting travel photos of themselves with the product.
While the current campaign is only a three-month venture, it looks like Neiman Marcus is testing the waters in the travelsphere to gauge interest from its customers. The luxury retailer faces a challenge to remain fresh and relevant to both attract new customers and retain its customer base as it also reportedly faces challenges behind the science with its creditors to rework its debt. Earlier this year, Neiman Marcus named several new mid-level appointments, hinting at an attempt to shake things up at the company in terms of its customer experience efforts. Last year the company announced an “ignite to win” turnaround plan that aims to drive sales to $700 million in adjusted EBITDA within five years. Whether or not campaigns such as ‘The Art of Travel’ will help is yet to be seen.
